Ariana Grande has shattered Spotify's record for the most plays within 24 hours. Grande's single "7 Rings" clocked 14,966,544 streams in its first 24 hours after being released on Friday 18th. That's 4 million more than the former record holder.

R. Kelly and Sony have parted ways, according to multiple sources who characterized the split as everything from mutually agreeable to the controversial rapper being shown the door. The split finally comes after months of pressure over the rapper's alleged predatory behavior. and sexual abuse of women, including several minors.

Cardi B took to Instagram on Wednesday to express her righteous outrage over the longest government shutdown in history. "Now, I know a lot of y’all don’t care because y’all don’t work for the government or y’all probably have a job,' she said addressing Trump and Congress. "This s--- is really f---ing serious, bro, this s--- is crazy."

The music industry and rock royalty were out in force in Los Angeles on Wednesday night as Chris Cornell’s friends and family filled the Forum to celebrate the life of the late Soundgarden frontman. Performers for the five-hour tribute concert included his former Audioslave bandmates, as well as Foo Fighters, Metallica, Ryan Adams and others.

In this meta-curated piece, Glenn Peoples selects from the top "Best Of" lists which began rolling out after Thanksgiving to bring us some of the highlights from other writers' top 2018 music highlights.

After rapper Travis Scott was announced as a guest performer with Maroon 5 during the halftime show for the Super Bowl month, he revealed that as a condition of his performance, the NFL had agreed to join him in making a $500,000 donation to a social justice organization.

Vivendi has been clear that it would like to sell up to half of its Universal Music Group at a valuation of between $22 billion and $33 billion, and an army of investment bankers are out courting potential buyers. MIDiA's Mark Mulligan looks at who may want and can afford to acquire a major stake in the world's largest music group.

Rapper A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie topped the US album chart last week with a record low sales of just 823 albums. With no release on CD or vinyl, the 823 albums sold in the week ending January 10th were all digital downloads.

Both hugely accomplished music and entertainment moguls, Jay-Z and Dr. Dre's success has been propelled by their ability to understand music as a business, and effectively market it to their fans thanks, in part, to focus groups.

After parting ways with comedian Kevin Hart, The Recording Academy and CBS announced today that Alicia Keys will host the 61st Annual Awards. The awards will be broadcast live on CBS on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, 8 p.m.ET / 5 p.m. PT.

Lil Uzi Vert appears to be at odds with his record label and took to social media in what appeared to be a retirement announcement. The XO Tour Llif3 rapper whose real name is Symere Woods, announced that he has quit making music and “deleted” his work.

The average price that a Spotify subscriber pays in dropping, and that has artists and record labels worried. Despite a stated price of $9.99 USD / €9.99 EU , the actual average price paid global is just $5.50 per month and falling.

"RCA/Sony: Drop Sexual Predator R Kelly" read the banner flying over the Los Angeles offices of RCA and Sony on Friday. It's the latest escalation in a growing protest movement to force record label RCA and corporate parent Sony to cut ties with Kelly, after repeated reports of predatory behavior and sexual abuse.

Maroon 5, Travis Scott and former Outkast member Big Boi will perform at the Super Bowl halftime show, the NFL announced on Sunday. The once coveted performance became controversial as star after star rejected an invitation to appear because of NFL treatment of former player Colin Kaepernick and the 'take a knee' protest movement.

Universal Music has signed German hip-hop artist, Capital Bra. 2018 was a groundbreaking year for the rapper whose real name is Vladislav Balovatsky. Not only did he become Germany’s most streamed artist of 2018, but he is the first artist ever to have eight No.1 hits in one year in the region and the country’s most successful artist of the 21st century overall.

A new report based on almost 50 interviews with top-level executives at major and independent record labels, industry analyst and educator Larry Miller digs into how streaming and the digital age have made record labels an indispensable partner for the most ambitious new, developing and superstar artists.

Black music industry executives are rising faster in 2019, according to Billboard Magazine. “We need to fight for our seat at the table,” one major label senior VP told Billboard’s Gail Mitchell. Over the past eight months, some 20 seats were added to that top executive table.

Lady Gaga is pulling her 2013 collaboration with R. Kelly “Do What U Want” from iTunes and all streaming services, as fallout from sexual assault allegations brought to forefront by a new Lifetime docu-series "Surviving R. Kelly."

Tucked inside Buzz Angle's new Music Industry Report 2018 were some stats that should bring a smile to that face of nearly every d.i.y. artist and indie label staffer. Slowly, but very perceptively, consumers are using streaming music services to listen to more than just the mega-hits.

Nielsen Music has released it 2018 Year-End Highlights. The survey shows a year of significant overall industry growth, with total album equivalent audio consumption up 23% over 2017, driven by a 49% increase in on-demand audio song streams compared to 2017.

Sony has announced a new music format called “360 Reality Audio” that gives listeners the feeling of being immersed in sound from all directions. It is delivered by Sony’s object-based spatial audio technology and makes it possible for artists to create a 360-degree musical experience by mapping sound sources such as vocals, chorus, and instruments with positional information of distance and angle to suit their creative and artistic purpose.

Deutsche Bank has raised its valuation of Universal Music Group 45% to $33.19 billion, up from a previous $22.86 billion. That values UMG higher than the market capitalization of its parent company Vivendi, which currently sits at $32.35 billion.

Late last year, new albums by Queen Carter and Sister Solana appeared on Spotify and Apple Music. But instead of being the surprise releases by Beyonce and SZA that fans believed they were, both turned out to be illegally uploaded rough mixes and stolen tracks.

While album sales certainly aren't what they used to be, many artists still utilize these long form collections of music as a valuable format for telling personal stories, something which the album artwork is a huge part of. In this piece, David Deal looks at some of the cover highlights from a fantastic collection of albums which came out of LGBTQ community in 2018.

The hit film "Bohemian Rhapsody" has reignited interest in Queen, but not just among original fans, according to new stats from Spotify. Att last night's Golden Globe Awards. “Bohemian Rhapsody” was the surprise winner for Best Drama and and Rami Malek won best actor for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury.

R. Kelly streams increased significantly after the airing of a Lifetime docu-series that included interviews with victims and former friends Johnny Legend and Wendy Williams chronicling his alleged history of sexual abuse, including of underage girls.

US district judge Louis Stanton has ruled that a jury will decide the outcome of a plagiarism lawsuit against Ed Sheeran over his No. 1 single “Thinking Out Loud.” The lawsuit, which alleges that Sheeran copied portions of Marvin Gaye’s 1973 hit “Let’s Get It On,” was launched against the singer, Sony/ATV and Atlantic Records by the estate of producer Ed Townsend, who co-wrote the song.